Post Surgery Slight Areola Tear

[Zifnab]

Hiya,
I'm wondering if I can get some insight on this. Im about one week post op from a bilateral excision. I talked to one of the head nurses and she assured me this was due to some tearing of some skin and scab when I removed the tapes. She adviced me to apply some polysporin and cover it with a band-aid. Is that correct? And will it heal nicely? I'm very worried about scarring.

[Dr. Elliot Jacobs]

It is possible that a suture opened up.  There does not appear to be any infection.  I think the nurse's recommendations were sound -- just apply antibiotic ointment and a bandaid and it should heal by itself fairly quickly -- and with minimal scarring.

Dr Jacobs

[Zifnab]

It is possible that a suture opened up.  There does not appear to be any infection.  I think the nurse's recommendations were sound -- just apply antibiotic ointment and a bandaid and it should heal by itself fairly quickly -- and with minimal scarring.

Dr Jacobs

Ahh i see.
If a suture had opened up, does that mean the incision would be wider the what would be desired since the stitch is no longer there to pull the areola and the adjacent skin together? I'm assuming there's not much that can be done to reapply the suture even if it did tear. I made sure not to do any physical activity that required my upper body, is something like this a common occurrence?

[Dr. Elliot Jacobs]

For a small gap (which is what your photo revealed), it would be un-wise to try to re-suture it -- it could lead to infection.  Better to allow the wound to heal by what we call "secondary intention" and usually the wounds heal remarkably well -- and oftentimes with a scar that is really quite good.

Be patient and don't panic -- this is not an unusual scenario.

Dr Jacobs

[Zifnab]

For a small gap (which is what your photo revealed), it would be un-wise to try to re-suture it -- it could lead to infection.  Better to allow the wound to heal by what we call "secondary intention" and usually the wounds heal remarkably well -- and oftentimes with a scar that is really quite good.

Be patient and don't panic -- this is not an unusual scenario.

Dr Jacobs

Ahh okay, thank you so much Dr Jacobs. 

[Zifnab]

One last question Dr Jacob if you don't mind. My left side definitly had more work done to it so it's to be expected that it was more swollen/bruised then that of my right side (Larger glandular tissue as well as being a cluster). My issue is the areola on my left is noticeably larger then that of my right (not larger by much but definitely noticeable by myself). Is this larger increase in size due to the swollen left side pushing out my areola and giving it that illusion? and will this generally resolve it self?

For a small gap (which is what your photo revealed), it would be un-wise to try to re-suture it -- it could lead to infection.  Better to allow the wound to heal by what we call "secondary intention" and usually the wounds heal remarkably well -- and oftentimes with a scar that is really quite good.

Be patient and don't panic -- this is not an unusual scenario.

Dr Jacobs

[Dr. Elliot Jacobs]

In general, swelling will stretch the skin and the areolas as well.  Hopefully, when the swelling subsides, the areolar diameter will diminish as well.  However, there is never a guarantee that both areolas will be identical.

Remember, your breasts are brothers -- not identical twins.  Any small difference in appearance is quite the norm.

Dr Jacobs

[Zifnab]

In general, swelling will stretch the skin and the areolas as well.  Hopefully, when the swelling subsides, the areolar diameter will diminish as well.  However, there is never a guarantee that both areolas will be identical.

Remember, your breasts are brothers -- not identical twins.  Any small difference in appearance is quite the norm.

Dr Jacobs

Ahh I see, thats quite reassuring. My surgeon did say he wasn't able to remove all the glandular tissue due to it being a cluster (residual tissue attached to the the surrounding fat), and that the only way would be to use lipo; which he didn't want to as it would risk leaving a crater or indentation due to my low body fat. Is there a possibility that the residual glandular tissue attached to the fatty tissue on my chest could fill in the void of the removed tissue? I wasn't ever really able to find a source online about what happens to the empty space where the hard glandular tissue resided previously.